The Renaissance Festival
by OnTheCyberSeas
Summary: Thomas and Minho meet while racing through the maze at the Renaissance Festival.


A/N: This was supposed to be for Thominho Week, but it took longer than I expected. I got this idea while visiting the Renaissance Festival last year.

* * *

Thomas pushed through the crowd of costumed people, Chuck walking about two paces behind him. The Renaissance Festival wasn't his first choice for the day, but Chuck had wanted to go and Thomas had always had a hard time saying no to his little brother.

As he stepped up to the ticket booth, Thomas bought tickets for the two of them. They walked up to the entrance and Thomas handed both of their tickets to the employee and they stepped into a time of long ago.

Thomas had to admit that the attention to detail was impressive. He never cared too much for history, but he was impressed by the authentic looking armor and weaponry being sold at the various shops along the path. The scents of various foods wafted into the air. Thomas was pretty sure that there were no such thing as fried Oreos during the Renaissance, but he wasn't complaining.

Chuck pulled Thomas over to a small stage where a performer was juggling knives. After the feat was finished, Thomas bought the two of them turkey legs and soda served in giant mugs. As they ate their turkey legs, a sign that had "Maze" inscribed on it caught Thomas' eye. He couldn't explain it, but he had always been fascinated by mazes ever since he was a little kid. He got a deep sense of satisfaction of completing a complex puzzle of a maze.

He pointed the maze out to Chuck. His younger brother wasn't as enthralled with the idea of the maze as he was. "You go ahead. I'll just wait here," Chuck said through a mouthful of turkey.

Thomas threw away his trash and walked over to the maze. Three boys were standing at the entrance. They were all attractive and tall. The boy in the middle, an Asian boy with a sunny smile, was the first to notice him. Thomas felt his heart race as their eyes locked. It was a new sensation for him, as he had just recently realized that he was bisexual. He hadn't come out to a lot of people yet, only Chuck and his best friends Teresa and Brenda. They had taken it surprisingly well, but Thomas wasn't comfortable being open about it yet.

The boy stepped forward and introduced himself, "Hello there, I'm Minho."

He held out his hand and Thomas shook it, "Thomas."

Pulling his hand away, Minho gestured to the other boys who had come up behind him one by one, "This here is Newt and this is Alby." Thomas politely waved at the other two who seemed to be sizing him up. "Care to race?"

"I'm sorry?" Thomas was confused.

"We want to race through the maze," Minho explained, "See who can get through it quicker. The loser buys ice cream." He gestured at Newt and Alby, "With just the three of us, the teams would be uneven, but with you…"

Thomas didn't let him finish, "I would love to." His love of mazes and his position as captain of the high school track & field team would give him an easy advantage.

Minho grinned and Thomas hoped that he would be paired with him. "Great. You'll be on my team."

"Great," Thomas smiled. He was thrilled by this, but he did his best not to show it.

The four lined up at the entrance of the maze. Thomas stretched his legs in preparation for the run. "On your marks. Get set. Go," shouted Newt. All four dashed into the maze, each team running in the opposite direction.

The maze was merely a bunch of different colored cloths hanging off of wooden frames. Minho picked up a stick lying on the ground and started to run it through the ground, marking his path. "Bread crumbs?" Thomas asked.

"Like Hansel and Gretel," Minho replied. He glanced around the maze, "Which way?"

Thomas pointed a direction and they ran, Minho dragging the stick through the dirt. Every time they reached a fork, Thomas would call out a direction and Minho followed him. They hit a couple of dead ends and they would turn back the way they came. At one point, they found themselves in a place where they had already treaded, but they soon got back on track. Thomas was having a lot of fun and him and Minho made a good team.

"You're a good runner," Minho said panting.

"I run track," Thomas explained, managing to keep his breath steady. Minho pushed ahead of him and nearly collided with another person. Thomas quickly grabbed his hand to stop him.

As Minho stopped to catch his breath, the kid he nearly collided with ran past them. "Thanks for looking out for me," Minho panted.

"No problem," said Thomas, "Let's keep going."

A couple of turns and they spotted the exit of the maze. They cheered as they ran out of the maze. A quick scan of the area told them that they were the winners, as Newt and Alby were nowhere in sight. About thirty seconds later, the two came running out of the maze.

Newt cursed as they saw them. "Good game," he grumbled.

"Good game," Thomas replied. Chuck ran up to him and Thomas smiled at him. "Want some ice cream?"

Chuck nodded and Newt said, "There was nothing that said we had to buy for the winners and their family."

"I'll buy his," Thomas assured him, "This is my brother Chuck." He turned to Chuck, "This is Minho, Newt, and Alby."

After introductions were out of the way, the five of them walked over to the food area. Thomas bought Chuck his ice cream while Newt and Alby bought everyone else theirs. They found an empty picnic table to sit. They talked as they enjoyed their ice cream. Through their conversation, Thomas found out that the three boys went to Glade High School, not too far from Thomas' school. Thomas kept sneaking glances at Minho as they talked and he caught his eye a couple of times, grinning at him.

As they finished their ice cream, Minho held out his phone, "Phone number?"

Thomas took the phone from him and typed in his contact information. Minho thanked him and the three boys said goodbye before walking away. It was three minutes later when he received a text from Minho that simply said: Dinner and a movie next week? :)

Waiting a few moments, Thomas typed back: It's a date. He slipped the phone back in his pocket as he and Chuck walked over to the jousting tournament. Thomas couldn't stop the grin on his face as he enjoyed the rest of the day. The Renaissance Festival was much more fun than he thought it would be, and he was looking forward to seeing Minho again.


End file.
